suffers much at the hands of those
who represent weeping if they are not versed in the good methods of
art. But it is no wonder that Giottino was so successful with this
picture, because the object of all his labour was rather fame and
glory than any other reward or desire of gain, which causes the
masters of our own time to be less careful and good. Not only Tommaso
did not endeavour to acquire great wealth, but he went without many
of the comforts of life, living in poverty, seeking rather to please
others than to live at ease; so managing badly and working hard, he
died of phthisis at the age of thirty-two, and was buried by his
relations outside S. Maria Novella at the gate of Martello, near the
tomb of Bontura.

The pupils of Giottino, who left more fame than property, were
Giovanni Tossicani of Arezzo, Michelino, Giovanni dal Ponte, and
Lippo, who were meritorious masters of the art. Giovanni Tossicani
excelled the others, and after Tommaso's death he executed many works
in that same style, in all Tuscany, and particularly in the Pieve of
Arezzo, where he did the chapel of St Maria Maddalena of the
Tuccerelli, and in the Pieve of Empoli, where he did a St James on a
pilaster. Again, he did some things in the Duomo at Pisa, which were
afterwards removed to make way for modern works. His last work was
executed in a chapel of the Vescovado of Arezzo, for the Countess
Giovanna, wife of Tarlato di Pietramala, and represented an
Annunciation, with St James and St Philip. As this work was on a
wall, the back of which is exposed to the north, it was almost
destroyed by the damp, when Master Agnolo di Lorenzo of Arezzo
restored the Annunciation, and Giorgio Vasari, then a youth,
restored the SS. James and Philip, to his great advantage, as he
learnt a great deal which he had not been able to obtain from other
masters, by observing Giovanni's methods, and from the shadows and
colours of this work, damaged as it was. The following words of the
epitaph to the Countess, who caused the work to be done, may still be
read: Anno Domini 1335 de mense Augusti hanc capellam constitui fecit
nobilis Domina comitissa Joanna de Sancta Flora uxor nobilis militis
Domini Tarlati de Petramela ad honorem Beatae Mariae Virginis.

I make no mention of the works of the other pupils of Giottino,
because they are quite ordinary and bear little resemblance to those
of their master and of Giovanni Tossicani, their fellow-pupil.
Tommaso drew very